So What if he was Dead? He was still Human
by RoseScor90
Summary: In the dead of night inside the castle, two souls unable to sleep. It wasn't love, but it wasn't friendship either. R&R!


Disclaimer: Not JK…

A/n: My first ever time trying to write Crabbe and I'd appreciate it if someone could tell me how I fared! Written for the **Two Roads Meet challenge** where I was challenged to write about **Crabbe** and **love**. Also for the **Professor Flitwick's prompt of the Day** thread for January 6th prompt "**You betrayed me**"

All was silent within the walls of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Even the prefects had gone back to their dorms after finishing their patrol. Even Filch was snoring lightly as he dozed propped on one of the walls of the castle as Mrs Norris slept beside him, curled into a ball. The only sound that pierced the serenity of the age old building was the nervous pacing of a light pair of footsteps on the seventh floor corridor. The footsteps were uneven, and quickened and slackened in direct proportion to the strength of the breeze that blew.

Newly appointed Astronomy Professor Millicent Bulstrode glanced around her frequently as she continued to try to make a hole on the corridor. Twenty five years, it had been twenty five years since she had seen him. Yet, she couldn't manage to forget him. Not because she loved him or anything, afterall, love wasn't for girls who looked like toads or boys who ate like pigs. Love was a word so sacred that it could only apply to the rich, the elegant, the beautiful and perhaps in some measure, to the witty. She was none of these and neither was he. But he was one thing she wasn't; dead.

As the wind picked up pace, she turned towards the window, and there he was. Pale, transparent, but he was there. He wasn't good looking, one would have to be blind or stupid or both to call him that, neither was he particularly ambitious or intelligent. He had been very cruel to everyone else in his school days, and the frown and glare that had been stuck on his face hadn't left him, even in death. He wasn't perfect, at all, but if only perfect people were to find love, most of the people in this world would have to die alone or miserable.

"Vincent" her voice was hoarse from the cold, having loitered the corridor in the dead of the night for quite some time. He seemed surprised at seeing her and there was just that little bit of softening in his eyes when he looked at her that only she had been able to see.

"Mils? What are you doing here? I thought you had gone off to the States?" his voice was that same soft tone that it had been when he had been alive.

"I heard there was a new ghost lurking in the seventh floor of the castle and came to investigate it" she replied grinning, knowing it would bring an identical smile to his face.

"Came to see me finally, did you? I thought you'd forgotten all about your pudgy friend" he commented as he flew down so that he was eye level with her. A part of his leg was hidden beneath the ground, him being taller than her by several inches.

"You knew I could never do that, Vincent. I thought you had moved on. I never realized…"

"You haven't changed one bit. Still unsure of yourself, I see. You don't have to worry and care about every damn person in the world, Mils. Do you still give Pansy pep talks? You still help Daphne with her lisp?" her silence told him all that he needed to know.

"When are you going to change?"

"If changing means learning the Dark Arts and practicing it on undeserving students, I'll pass" she snapped unconsciously. His patronizing tone had always done that to her. Even in his ghost form, she could feel him stiffen.

"I know that is something no one can forget, I can't either. If ghosts could sleep, I imagine that's what I'd dream about every night. I'm not trying to justify my action. I'm just trying to say that I'm sorry, Mils, for what I did. Doesn't that count?"

"No! No it doesn't! Not after what you promised me." her eyes were flashing with hurt and anger, but he dared not look at them. Instead, he drew back and floated over to the railing, crossing it to hang in mid air. Millicent leaned on the railing, glaring at him.

"I suffered the punishment for all of it, Mils. The fiendfire doesn't kill easily, and I was caught right in the middle. Don't you think that torture was enough punishment for my mistakes?"

"I don't care, Vincent. You betrayed me. That hurts. You promised you wouldn't drabble in the Dark Arts even though you hung out with future Death Eaters. Then you went and became a veteran in the Cruciatus curse. You broke a promise, and my trust in you. You were a friend, a companion. I thought you were someone I could rely on no matter what. I thought you were solid, Crabbe, you aren't" he flinched, not from her words but because she used his surname. She had never done that before, not even when she had been furious with him. He guessed there was a difference between hatred and anger.

"So you'll never forgive me?"

"Why do you ask for it, when it doesn't matter a knut what I say? You don't care about me, then why do you want me to forgive you? Who am I to do that anyway?" her voice broke at the very end, telling him clearly that she did not mean anything she said.

"You know that's not the case, Mils. You know I care about what you say and do. I'd never do anything to upset you" she snorted before he could continue.

"I'm not going to believe it of someone like you, Crabbe"

"Is that what you came here for? Is that why you took up this job?" he was angry, which was a rare occurrence in itself. As she remained silent, he drifted closer to her so that he could see her clearly. Her eyes weren't shooting daggers at him as he had expected, but he knew she wasn't ready to forgive him, not yet.

"If that's how it is" he drew back from her alarmingly fast, disturbing the air around her.

"I should go" she turned her back to him as she hurried down the stairs, not staying behind to witness the expression in his eyes as he followed her retreating form. Affection, if not love.

A/n: Please do review! I really tried to make them both seem human, I just want to know I if was any good at it!


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